DIY Shutters

Update the look of your home without spending big bucks with these fresh, rustic shutters made from wooden pallets.

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Looking to create a unique, rustic style without breaking the bank? In DIY Wood Pallet Projects, author Karah Bunde presents 35 creative ideas for upcycling wood pallets into beautiful projects that will help fill your home and yard with plenty of personality. This excerpt, which provides instructions on creating DIY shutters for your home, is from Chapter 5, “In The Yard.” Buy this book from the MOTHER EARTH NEWS store: DIY Wood Pallet Projects.


A simple set of DIY shutters is an easy way to add a little curb appeal to the front of your home. You don’t even need to add them to every single window of your house–consider just making a pair for the windows that can be seen from the street. Depending on the size of your windows, you might actually be able to use pallet slats, but for this tutorial I’ve used new 1×4s to show that with a little sanding and staining they can end up having the same look as a pallet slat. The tools and supplies list assumes you’re making 2 shutters, so multiply everything by 2 for each additional set you’d like to make.

And when it comes to the sizing of your DIY shutters, what will be appropriate for your windows will vary depending on the style of your house and your personal preference. Take a drive around your area and see where your neighbors’ shutters line up with their windows. Are they as tall as their window trim? Are they very narrow or do they appear to be about half the width of the entire window? Which style do you like best? These observations will help you determine your specific shutter measurements. Or just wing it and make whatever size you want; there’s no hard and fast rule here. Because really, who likes rules? And if you, too, need to use new wood, remember that the actual measurement of a 1×4 is 3/4 inches × 3-1/2 inches.

front of a house with a bench and shutters around the windows
  • Published on Nov 24, 2014
Tagged with: shutters, stain, wood pallets
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